All posts tagged live blog

A man walks by the closed doors of Brussels central station during a general strike all over Belgium which coincided with the summit.

Leaders of 25 European Union governments agreed Monday night on what some billed as a historic pact to move to closer fiscal union and signed off on the details of a permanent bailout fund for the euro zone—yet Greece’s looming debt restructuring threw a shadow over the summit.

The leaders discussed Greece but provided no further clarity on the eventual outcome of an issue that was creating increasing nervousness in financial markets Monday.

After Monday’s meeting, senior officials said they expected a debt-restructuring accord in “coming days,” in time to launch a bond-exchange offer to private investors by mid-February.

One question the summit didn’t address: whether official creditors, such as the ECB, will also be needed to reduce Greece’s debt to levels that it is likely to be able to sustain in the long term.

After the summit, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met with other senior European officials, including Jörg Asmussen, the German representative on the board of the ECB. Officials said the talks likely concerned conditions to be imposed on Greece so it can receive its new loans. But afterward, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who attended the meeting, said it yielded no conclusions.

This blog has now closed.

6:33 am (EST)

Welcome

Jenny Paris and William Kemble-Diaz

European Union leaders will gather in Brussels today with the intention of finalizing accords to create a permanent bailout mechanism while also seeking to tackle slow growth and high unemployment.

But talks among the 27 EU leaders may be overshadowed by a looming deal between Greece and its creditors to halve its privately-held debt. Greece and its private-sector creditors are reported to be edging closer to an agreement over the €100 billion debt write-down with bondholders.

The deal must be agreed by the end of the month for Greece to make an offer for a bond exchange to its creditors by Feb. 13 and avoid default on a major bond redemption next month.

However, before then, Greek political leaders must provide written assurances to the country's senior official lenders that they will abide by tough reforms, regardless of who wins a pending election likely to be held in April.